


Right Place, Wrong Time

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: BAMF Martha Jones, Bad Wolf all up in everyone's business, Episode: s03e11 Utopia, Episode: s03e12 The Sound of Drums, Episode: s03e13 Last of the Time Lords, Except the Master, F/M, Forced Bonding, Forced Marriage, Gen, Rose needs a hug, Telepathy, Time Travel, actually just give everyone a hug, brief reference to the Day of the Doctor, not the ideal reunion, poor Rose, so does the Doctor, the Master is a bit nuts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 08:03:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20579183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: During her dimension cannon days, Rose ends up at the end of the universe just before the Doctor gets there. Unfortunately, she ends up trapped in the TARDIS with the newly awakened Master, and he is not in the mood to play nicely.





	1. Chapter 1

Rose quickly looked around to try and figure out where she’d been cannoned off to now. It didn’t look particularly familiar, but knowing the kinds of trouble the Doctor was so well known for getting himself into, it made perfect sense to think that she’d probably end up finding him on some random planet that she’d never even heard of before.

Though there was something particularly strange about this place. Rose was clearly standing in the middle of what appeared to be a small storage room, but there was no noise coming from outside of it. A quick glance down at her dimension cannon, and Rose knew that she had about an hour and a half before she would automatically be whisked back to Torchwood. 

Well, if she only had a small amount of time, then she might as well use it to explore everything about this place. The Doctor could be anywhere around, though when she reached up to feel the TARDIS key that was still hanging from around her neck, she could tell that it only had the typical warmth of metal up against human skin, and not the scalding heat that was supposed to be there if the TARDIS was summoned nearby. 

This wouldn’t be the first time that the cannon messed up on the timing, but Rose did need to figure out whether she’d gotten here too early or too late. It was usually a fairly simple thing to figure out, since the Doctor’s presence left behind obvious signs on the people in any given place. 

Outside the supply closet she’d landed in was a narrow hallway with a bit of a patchwork look about it. She heard voices coming from nearby, but had no idea what they were saying. Unfortunately, the dimension cannon didn’t have a handy little telepathic translator the way the TARDIS did, which always made it difficult when Rose landed pretty much anywhere other than 21st century Earth. 

She hesitated for a moment, but then decided to approach the source of the voices despite not being able to understand them. She grinned when she stepped into a room with two people in it. One was green and slightly lizard-y, but the other just looked like an older human. She had no idea when or where she was, but it always amazed her to see proof of just how much more humans seemed to exist than any other species. 

The man frowned when he spotted her, and immediately started talking. From his tone, she guessed that he was more angry than curious, but since she didn’t actually know what he was saying, it was difficult to know for sure. She held her hands up in the universal symbol for ‘unarmed’, and then started to talk as well. “Look, I know that you probably have absolutely no idea what I’m saying, but if you can somehow understand me, then please, I need your help.” She couldn’t offer her name, of course. To preserve timelines, she never gave her name in any of the places that the cannon ever brought her to. “I need to know if you’ve ever met a man called the Doctor?”

The old man stared at her for what seemed like an uncomfortably long amount of time, and Rose just hoped that she hadn’t come across one of the Doctor’s many enemies. But then the man’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he held up one finger before turning away and going to a drawer to start rummaging through it. 

He jumped up, clutching something in his hand, and then rushed over to Rose. He paused right in front of her, and showed her what looked like an earpiece. She gulped nervously, mind immediately flashing to the Cybermen, but this was clearly not cyber tech, since it was so small that it would probably be nearly invisible in her ear, and there was only one of them instead of the two needed for cyber control. She had no way of knowing what it was, but the man was pantomiming speaking, and gesturing back and forth between the two of them, so she could only hope that it was some kind of translator. 

Rose took the device and popped it into her ear, and for a moment it felt like her entire brain whited out, and she got a bit of a headache. The pain faded quickly, though, and then she was left able to breathe properly again. “Is this a translator?”

The man grinned. “Yes! Now who are you, and what in the heavens were you just speaking in?”

“I’m a traveler,” Rose said carefully. “I was speaking in a language called English. I’m looking for a man called the Doctor.”

The man tilted his head to the side. “I’m a doctor. Dr. Yana, at your service.”

Rose sighed, and felt as her shoulders slumped down in her disappointment. “Ah, actually I was just looking for someone whose name is the Doctor. Just the Doctor. But it would seem that he hasn’t gotten here yet.”

Yana reached out to pat her on the arm. “There there, I’m sure he’ll show up. Everyone has to eventually, right? How else will your friend get to Utopia?”

Rose frowned. “Utopia? How do you mean?” Then she shook her head. She really needed to find the Doctor. No matter how much she might want to get involved in some of the situations the cannon landed her in, she never had enough time or skills to manage it. And besides, if the Doctor was going to show up soon, then he was sure to get himself involved enough for the both of them anyways. “Uh, nevermind. Would it bother you terribly if I just kind of sat in a corner quietly for the next hour and eleven minutes? It’ll be like I’m not even here, I promise.” Now that she actually stopped to think about it, Rose realized just how utterly exhausted she was. Taking a short sit-down would be good for her. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d gotten a full night’s sleep.

Yana gave her a long look, and then shrugged. “This is very important work. I don’t suppose you know anything about rocket science, do you?” When Rose just laughed, he shrugged again. “Had to at least ask, I’m sure you understand. Well, so long as you’re not getting in the way, I don’t see any problem with you taking a breather in here. It’s much quieter than out with the other passengers.”

Passengers, and rocket science? Rose looked the jumble of sci-fi looking gizmos and wires with a newfound appreciation. Of course she knew that ships had to be built, and they didn’t just spawn into existence one day, but she’d never actually seen one get built before. But there was no point in bothering the man to ask him questions, because he needed to concentrate, and she probably wouldn’t understand any of his answers anyhow. 

So Rose sank down in a corner, and tipped her head back against the wall. She was just going to close her eyes for a moment, and then once the cannon was charged and ready to go, she’d head out. It didn’t seem very likely that the Doctor would just happen to show up within the next hour. 

At one point she was vaguely aware of something warm being draped over her, but then she slipped away again. Apparently she really really needed the sleep. 

,,,

When Rose opened her eyes again, she realized that she was lying on her side on the floor, facing the wall, and that there was a blanket resting over her. Her shoulder twinged in protest to having napped on the hard metal floor, but more importantly was as strange awareness in the back of her mind. Something that felt so familiar that it was hard to believe how she’d ever been able to live without it there. That awareness was what had woken her up, like someone had been knocking on a door nearby. 

She jolted upright, and then gaped idiotically at the sight in front of her. It was the TARDIS. That beautiful, beautiful ship was actually parked right within her line of sight. She must have been sleeping very heavily to have missed the sound of it parking, but that didn’t matter now. She’d actually succeeded. She’d found the Doctor. 

Rose scrambled to her feet and hurried over to the TARDIS, fumbling to pull out her key. She assumed that the Doctor had walked right past her, curled up in the corner as he’d been. It was tempting to go out and search for him, get caught up in whatever adventure he’d found this time, but she had no idea where she was still, or what the set up of this place was, and she was absolutely not going to risk getting lost and having him leave without her. 

Even though she could feel the TARDIS in her head, and she could feel the chipped paint beneath her hand, she still let out a huge sigh of relief when the door actually swung open and revealed that oh-so familiar bigger on the inside interior. She glanced back after a moment, and realized that she’d just rudely walked right past Yana and his assistant, who she hadn’t even bothered to learn the name of. 

“Dr. Yana, thank you so much for letting me get some rest, but it would seem my ride is here.” He seemed to startle at her words, and then turned off whatever was on the screen he’d just been looking at. 

He turned and offered her a small smile, though he seemed somewhat tense. “Ah yes, your Doctor. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you as soon as he arrived, but I’m afraid that I got quite caught up in the moment.” He was fiddling with a pocket watch in one hand, and from the glimpses Rose could see of it, it had quite a lovely design on the cover. She thought about mentioning it, but Yana seemed rather on edge. “Sorry, but is everything alright? You seem upset.”

Yana blinked a few times, and nodded. “No, no, everything is fine…” Then he held the watch up by the chain so that it spun in half circles in front of him. “Do you know what this is? Did you notice it earlier?”

Rose shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t remember seeing it before. Had you lost it, or something?”

“Perhaps I have,” he muttered. “Well, I suppose that you’d best be on your way then. Your friends said they’d be right back.”

Friends? The Doctor must have picked up new companions after losing her. She remembered how strange it had felt to meet Sarah Jane for the first time, and to learn that she hadn’t been the first. She wondered if his new companions had ever heard her name before. Not that it really mattered. Of course she was happy that he’d found people. He didn’t deserve to be alone. “Thank you again,” Rose said with a slight nod, and then she stepped into the TARDIS. 

She closed the doors gently behind her, and then slowly walked over to the console. As soon as she pressed her hand flat against it, she felt like she was home, and it seemed as though she could feel the TARDIS greeting her, the same way the ship had ever since the Game Station. “I missed you so much,” she murmured, and she could tell that the TARDIS had missed her too. 

Then Rose continued further into the ship, curious about if things had changed. Of course she knew that the TARDIS was infinite and could conjure up or delete new rooms whenever she wanted, but Rose wondered if the things that she remembered were still there. She found the kitchen first (“You’re all knowledgeable about Union Jacks and ships, but you can’t understand that it’s a galley, Rose? Really?”) The cabinets didn’t have much stocked in them, and Rose hoped that the Doctor was taking proper care of his companions, and of himself.

Then she headed in the direction that used to lead to her room. To her surprise, it was still there, a wooden door frame with a single rose carved into it. She ran her hand over the carving, and then pushed the door open. Her room looked exactly the same as she remembered, all of her clothes strewn about on the floor, covers made up very messily, pictures stuck all over the mirror, souvenirs from alien planets cluttered the dresser top and shelves. 

Rose reached up to press on hand against her mouth as she tried to contain a loud sob. Starting over in Pete’s world, the only things she’d had besides her mum and Mickey were the contents of her pockets. And since she’d left her jacket on the TARDIS, which she could now see hanging up on one of the pegs on the back of her door, all Rose had had to remember this life by was a phone that no longer worked, a handful of alien coins, and the necklace with her TARDIS key on it. 

But here was everything she’d been forced to leave behind, and it was almost overwhelming to know that the Doctor had actually saved it all. She had no idea how much time had passed for him, but either way, she was infinitely grateful. She flopped down onto the bed, and then reached over to grab one of the framed pictures from her bedside table. It had been taken by Mickey on Christmas, and it had her laughing at some long forgotten joke, while the Doctor grinned at her. She gently traced over his features, hating that she hadn’t been able to recall his image perfectly in her mind. 

Rose clutched the photo to her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut and laid back on the bed. When she was sure she wasn’t about to actually start crying, she opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. It was still covered in the glowy star stickers the Doctor had procured for her (“Rose, you’re on a TARDIS- no, not just any TARDIS, you’re on my TARDIS. You could look up at the actual stars every night if you wanted. No, don’t look at me like that, you know that I can’t- ugh, fine. We’ll get you some stickers. But it’s on your head if the TARDIS doesn’t like having foreign adhesives glued all over her!”)

Suddenly, Rose was startled out of her memories as alarms started blaring, and she jolted up. She dropped the photo down onto the bed and hurried to peer out into the hallway. The usual cool blue lighting had been replaced with mauve, and the blaring noise only got louder as she poked her head out. 

Whatever adventure the Doctor had stumbled across, it seemed to have followed him home. Despite everything else, Rose couldn’t help the slight grin on her face. It almost felt just like old times. As long as she ran towards the problem, she was sure to find the Doctor as well.

So Rose ran, and quickly realized that the TARDIS was guiding her by flashing lights in whatever direction she needed to go in. She found herself back in the console room, and paused in the doorway. There was a figure with bright gold light bursting out from direction, and Rose gasped. She only had the vaguest memories of her time as Bad Wolf and what had immediately followed, but she would never forget the sight of regeneration. Which meant that while Rose had been busy looking at old pictures, the Doctor had been in enough danger to die.   
She grit her teeth, and had to look away when the light got too bright. Once it faded away, Rose hurried forward. “Doctor!”

He turned around, and Rose stopped short. The unfamiliar man in front of her wasn’t wearing pinstripes and chucks, but was instead dressed in the same exact clothes that Yana had been. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, and he did the same. “I suppose I just got so excited that I completely forgot you were onboard. I heard them talking about you, you know. A human who absorbed the power of the time vortex? Even if he took it out of you immediately, you should have died.” He prowled closer to Rose, and she could suddenly hear the sound of her Doctor’s voice over the monitor, but she couldn’t look away from the man in front of her, who just screamed danger. “You’ve seen into the untempered schism, just as I have. Can you hear it, Rose? Can you hear the drums?”

Rose glanced around, desperate to spot something that could be used as a weapon. Clearly the man standing before her was a Time Lord, but he was also clearly no friend of the Doctor’s. She took a deep breath in, then slowly let it out. “Look, if you just walk out there with me, then I promise that we can find a way to get you what you need. The Doctor is great at helping people, and-” She was cut off by the sound of a loud beep, and she glanced down at her wrist out of instinct, and saw that it was fully recharged. She could use it to get away, but then she might never be able to find the Doctor again. 

In that brief moment of hesitation, when her full focus wasn’t on the Time Lord standing before her threateningly, he rushed at her, and slammed her head back against the wall, which made everything immediately go black.

,,,

The Doctor let out a huff of frustration as Martha spoke. “But he goes back years. He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, Rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life.”

As she scrolled through the website about Harold Saxon, something caught his eye. “Hold on, go back up. To marriage?” 

Martha gave him a weird look, but did as he asked. “I know, it’s weird. Who would want to marry an insane man after barely knowing him at all?”

But the Doctor could barely hear anything Martha was saying. He was far too busy staring at the picture that was supposedly Saxon and his wife. Mostly at the wife. Because he would never be able to forget the beautiful face of Rose Tyler. She was smiling in the photo, but it was just a normal smile, and not her tongue-touched one. And her eyes weren’t full of that vibrancy that always made them seem to glow. But it was still, without a doubt, Rose. 

He leaned in closer to get a better look at the picture, and saw that there were a few others as well. Mostly of political events, with Rose clinging to Saxon. If one didn’t look too closely at her eyes, they’d probably actually believe that they were a happily married couple. “What’s her name?”

“Lucy Saxon. Why?”

The Doctor looked over at Jack. “You’ve been living in this time, and you’ve seen Saxon’s rise to fame, right?” Jack nodded, looking slightly confused about why he was being asked. The Doctor picked up the laptop and held it right up to Jack’s face. “Then explain how you never noticed this?”

Jack frowned, and crossed his arms over his chest. “What exactly am I supposed to be noticing?”

The Doctor sighed. “Perception filter. Must be a pretty damn strong one too. Even with Jackie and Mickey gone, there should still be other people in London who would recognize Rose’s face if it was plastered all over national television. And when Jack had asked about Rose’s name being on the list of the dead, he’d sounded genuinely worried about Rose’s condition, which meant that he really hadn’t noticed her. “It’s Rose, Jack. Look at this picture, and let yourself think about it, really think about it. Remember Rose? The person who saved your life? You thought she was dead for over a hundred years?”

Jack squinted, and then his jaw dropped, and he looked up at the Doctor before looking back at the picture. “I never even noticed… how did I never notice? She was here all this time. But why did you leave her here for so long? And how the hell did she end up married to that slime lord under some other name?”

The Doctor clenched his jaw. “I don’t know what’s going on. But you can be sure that I will find out.”

“Hey, you’re not doing this alone,” Jack assured him. Neither of the men noticed the resigned look on Martha’s face as she looked back and forth between them.

,,,

Rose was perched primly on the edge of her seat as the other woman closed the doors and then hurried over, speaking in a hushed voice as she started pulling files out of her bag. “All of it. The school days, his degree, even his mother and father, it's all invented. Look, Harold Saxon never went to Cambridge. There was no Harold Saxon. The thing is, it's obvious. The forgery is screaming out and yet no one can see it. It's as if he's mesmerized the entire world.”

Rose pressed her lips together. She knew that her ‘husband’ was nearby, and that if he caught wind of anything this woman was saying, she would be the next casualty in Harold’s little war. “You need to leave, Mrs. Rook. You don’t understand. Get that information to someone who can help, but that person isn't me. I can’t even save myself, how am I supposed to…?”

“Save yourself?” Viviene repeated, eyes wide. “Mrs. Saxon, if you fear for your safety around your husband, then I can promise to bring you to people who can protect you.” She reached out to take one of Rose’s hands, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Please, you can come with me right now. I’m begging you, just come with me. I can keep you safe.”

The Master was just outside the doors, and Rose could feel the tears sliding down her face. She didn’t want to see anyone else die, but how was she supposed to save her? “Please just go,” she choked out. “Now, please!”

But it was already too late. The Master stepped into the drawing room, and gave Rose an amused smile. “Ah, my faithful companion,” he said sarcastically. 

Vivien stood up abruptly to look at the Master. “Mr. Saxon, Prime Minister, I was just having a little joke with your wife. I didn’t...”

“Oh, but you’re absolutely right. Harold Saxon doesn’t exist.”

Vivien was too professional to look triumphant in that moment, but there was a hint of smugness in her voice when she spoke again. “Then tell me. Who are you?”

“I am the Master, and these are my friends.” 

More tears fell from Rose as she watched those cursed little spheres appear in the room. Vivien furrowed her eyebrows. “I’m sorry?”

“Can’t you hear it, Mrs. Rook?”

She gave a slight shake of her head. “Hear what?”

The Master grinned. “The drumbeat. The drums coming closer and closer. How can you not hear them? They’re so loud. I’ve been hearing them all my life. And Rose, dear little Rose, she can hear them now too. That’s what it means to be true equal partners in a relationship, isn’t it? Sharing each other’s burdens?”

Rose jumped to her feet, and quickly moved to stand between Vivien and the spheres. Vivien was taller than her, so her head was still exposed, but it was the symbol of the action more than anything that got the Master’s attention. “Just stop it! Stop with your sick games! Just let her go!”

The Master reached out to grab Rose’s wrist, gripping it tightly enough that she knew it would leave bruises behind. “Come along, dearest. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to you now that you’re the prime minister’s wife.” Then he turned to drag her out of the room. Rose tried to dig her heels into the carpet, but Time Lords were stronger than humans, and ever since the Master had started cannibalizing the TARDIS, she constantly felt weak and tired. “I said, come along.”

He pulled her out into the hallway, and slammed the door shut just after Vivien’s screams started. Rose had promised herself that she wouldn’t cry anymore, but what else was she supposed to do? She tried to pull free, but the Master still refused to let go of her. After a few seconds, he opened the door, then closed it to block the screams, then tried again a few seconds after that. The screaming continued, so he closed the door again.

Rose glared up at him. “She knew everything. And a woman as smart as that will have put back up plans into place. You may have murdered her, but she was already on the right track, and you’ll be taken down soon. You will be stopped,” she snarled. 

The Master laughed, and then pulled Rose into a hug, ignoring the way that she tried desperately to squirm free. “Oh, you don’t need to worry so much about me, darling. Tomorrow morning, I promise. That’s when everything ends.” He pulled away so that he could give Rose a kiss, and she felt like she was going to throw up. 

When the Master finally let go of her, she hurried back into the drawing room, and dropped down to her knees next to the corpse that was in there. She reached out with shaking hands to gently close Vivien’s eyelids, and then she slumped back against the couch. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t stop him. I’m so sorry.” She kept repeating the words over and over as she rocked back and forth, and desperately hoped that someone (the Doctor) would be able to fix everything before tomorrow.

,,,

Martha’s apartment had been blown up, but all the Doctor could think about was seeing Rose on the telly. She’d stood there next to the Master, looking absolutely miserable despite the smile on her face. Everything was just crashing down around him, both literally and otherwise, and the Doctor didn’t know if he could survive it. Rose could have potentially been stuck with the Master for up to an entire year and a half, and the very thought of that made him feel sick to his stomach. He’d saved the universe over and over again, but it seemed the universe was only interested in making him suffer. 

He’d probably rant about how unfair it all was, but Martha probably wouldn’t be so sympathetic after having just watched her parents get arrested, and Jack was stuck living forever, so he’d probably understand too uncomfortably well. So the Doctor remained silent, and just glared out at the road in front of them.   
The Doctor wasn’t the hero that Rose always liked to think of him as. How could he be, when he couldn’t even save the most important person?

,,,

“Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, a hundred trillion years?” The Master laughed, like he’d just told a funny joke.

Martha practically growled in response. “Let them go, Saxon. Do you hear me? Let them go!”

The Doctor took the phone from her hands, and even though he knew that he should try and remain calm to keep things from escalating, he couldn’t stop himself. “What have you done to Rose?” he demanded. 

The Master chuckled. “Doctor. You know, I rather like it when you use my name. Perhaps you should try it, if you really want to know anything.”

The Doctor scowled. “You chose it. Psychiatrist’s field day, Master.”

The Master sighed. “See? That wasn’t really so difficult, was it? Well, to answer your question, I haven’t done anything to Rose. We are quite happily married, and that’s that.”

“Why? What do you gain from marrying her? And giving her a different name?”

“Oh, I thought you were supposed to be smart, Doctor. I couldn’t exactly use her given name when it’s on a list of the dead, now can I? But also, quite frankly, I find it hurtful that you don’t seem to think we could have married for love.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you dare say that. You have no right to say that!” Not when even the Doctor hadn’t gotten his chance to say those words to Rose. 

The Master continued to sound as amused as ever. “Don’t believe me? Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

The Doctor gasped, and clutched the phone painfully tight as he heard the sound of movements on the other end, and then that painfully familiar voice that he never thought he’d hear again. “Doctor?” Only her voice sounded so small and tired, and not at all like Rose Tyler should ever sound. 

“Rose,” he breathed out, saying her name like it was a prayer. He knew that there was no point in asking her about where she was or how to get to her, not with the Master right there listening. “Rose, I swear to you that I am going to come for you. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to get you sooner, but now that I know, I’m going to-”

Then Rose interrupted him to say something, and it took the Doctor a long moment to realize what he’d just heard. The TARDIS had never translated any Gallifreyan for his companions, so the Doctor was startled to hear the essentially dead language come from Rose’s mouth. It took him another moment longer than that for it to sink in just what she’d said. She’d said the Master’s name, his true, Gallifreyan name. Something that she couldn’t possibly know unless… unless they were bonded. Not just married by Earth standards, but actually bonded. “I’m sorry,” she told him, and it sounded like she was crying. No one should ever be allowed to make Rose cry like that. “I looked for you for so long, Doctor. But I’ve failed you.”

The Doctor gulped, and then shook his head. “No, don’t think that, Rose. It’s not your fault. I- I promised Jackie that I would always get you home safe, but I failed.” Everything had just gotten much more complicated. Telepathic marriage bonds were very strong, and very very difficult to break. But that didn’t mean the Doctor was going to give up. How could he ever give up on Rose? 

There was the sound of rustling on the other end, and then the Master was the one speaking again. “Speaking of homes, where is ours, Doctor?”

“Gone.”

He could practically feel the Master’s disbelief, even without being able to see him. “How can Gallifrey be gone?”

It was impossible to get any satisfaction out of how lost the Master sounded. Not when the Doctor felt the same way. “It burnt. And the Time Lords are dead, and the Daleks are mostly gone as well. And you must have run as far as possible, and made yourself human because you were scared.”

The Doctor waited to hear the Master’s next words, but instead, he heard the sound of air moving past the speaker, and a loud thud. “Doctor!” It was Rose again, and she sounded out of breath, and he could hear the loud background noise that usually meant someone was running while on the phone. “Doctor, they’re humans! The Toclafane are humans, and the Master is watching you right now! Doctor, you have to run! Please!”

The Doctor glanced at Martha and Jack, who both looked on edge and ready to pick a fight. He spoke into the phone, knowing that whatever Rose had done, there wouldn’t be much time before the phone was taken back from her. “Rose, I swear that I am going to rescue you. I’ve already let you down too many times, but no more. Just wait for me, Rose. Can you do that?”

He heard the faintest hint of laughter, and it gave him more strength than he ever could have imagined he’d get from such a tiny noise. “I’d wait for you forever, my Doctor. I could never give up on-” and then the call was suddenly ended, and the Doctor wanted to call out Rose’s name, as if she could somehow answer.

Instead, he turned to his current two companions. “He can see us. He’s got control of everything. There’s nothing else we can do right now. So we run.”

,,,

As they stood on the airfield, Rose felt like she could see something out of the corner of her eye, but whenever she tried to subtly look over, there was nothing in sight. She didn’t dare actually turn her head enough to look, though. Not when the Master was standing so close, and would also try to see what she was looking at.

She barely paid attention to the conversation going on around her. None of it mattered anyways, since the Master probably wasn’t going to let her anywhere near a phone for quite a while. Then the American president marched away, and she felt the Master’s focus turn to her. “The last President of America. We have a private plane ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour. My darling.” He nodded one of the security guards. “Make sure that nothing happens to her. She is the love of my life, after all.”

As she turned to let herself get led away, Rose very nearly paused and ruined everything. Her face remained blank, but she wasn’t very good at being able to put up walls through her bond with the Master. Her immediate reaction was to hide her surprised reaction as quickly as possible, but she knew that that would only make the Master suspicious. Instead, she waited for him to reach out and take her hand. “Sorry, I thought I saw a snake.”

The Master narrowed his eyes, and Rose could feel him probing lightly into her mind. She projected the image of a garden snake on concrete, and the Master seemed to accept that as the truth. “Oh, my fragile little darling. You have nothing to fear. I promise that I will never let anything harm you.” Rose had to force herself not to look back over to the edge of the airfield again, even though it would mean getting another glimpse of the man she loved.

,,,

The Doctor gasped as he saw the inside of the TARDIS. The whole console room was glowing a sickly red, and the rotor was completely messed up. “It’s a paradox machine,” he said grimly in response to Jack’s question. Then he stood up and walked over to one of the many gauges on the console. He tapped it lightly. “As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at two minutes past eight.”

,,,

Rose just wanted to look away as the American president began speaking. She believed in the Doctor with all her heart, but she’d also spent eighteen months with the Master, and knew that he was quite used to finding creative solutions to getting his way. And it didn’t help that he was absolutely insane. Even now, she could hear the sound of drums coming from his end of the bond. It was the only thing to ever get through unintentionally. Considering she only got a faint echo of the noise, she could understand how it had driven the Master mad to hear it at full volume for almost his entire life. 

Then, almost like a whisper in the back of her mind, Rose could hear the Doctor’s voice talking softly, and then she recognized Jack’s voice too, along with one that she couldn’t recall. She wanted desperately to turn around and look at them, especially as she got the gist of their plan. Involving keys and perception filters. But she was pretty sure it wasn’t going to work, not against the Master, and she wanted nothing more than to be able to warn them. But how could she without giving them up at the same time?

Then the American president was dead, and Rose jumped to her feet, hands clasped over her mouth. The Master laughed and clapped his hands together like it was all just one big performance. “Guards.”

The Master spoke, and then the Doctor rushed forward. He was quickly grabbed by two different guards, and the Master plucked the key out of the Doctor’s hands. He tsked. “We meet at last, Doctor. Oh ho, I love saying that.”

“Stop it!” The Doctor shouted. “Stop it now!”

The Master just scoffed in response to the passionate plea. “As if a perception filter’s ever going to work on me. And look, it’s the girlie and the freak. Although, I’m not sure which one is which.” He glanced at Rose, who was watching the entire scene with wide, horrified eyes. “What do you think, darling? I know you’ve met the captain before, but surely you must have some kind of opinion on the woman who took your place with the Doctor?”

Rose felt like she could barely even breath, like everything was falling apart and there was nothing she could do to stop it, and that’s right when Jack ran forward and got himself zapped by the Master’s screwdriver. He dropped to the floor, dead, and Rose immediately dropped to her knees right next to him. Yet another person she’d seen die, only this time it was someone she knew and cared about. 

She was barely aware of the Doctor and the Master talking, and of someone kneeling down next to her, and reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” came a soft whisper into her ear. “The Doctor said that you saved him. That he can’t die.” 

Rose kept looking at Jack’s body, still ignoring everything else around her, but then she forced herself to really look at Jack. And even though she didn’t know anything about the woman next to her other than that she traveled with the Doctor, Rose instinctively knew that it was more than just comforting words. When she focused hard enough to give herself a migraine, Rose could glimpse timelines, and she could see Jack’s. It was like… like a fixed point in time. She bit back a sob as she was simultaneously flooded with guilt and relief, and guilt about feeling relief. 

While the Time Lords talked, she slowly reached forward, careful not to move enough to catch anyone’s attention. She unbuckled the vortex manipulator from where it was wrapped around Jack’s wrist. She hated herself for even thinking it, but even if Jack couldn’t die, he looked so dead at the moment, and she didn’t want him to suffer even more because of her.

She slipped the manipulator onto the other woman’s wrist, who gave her a strange look. “What are you doing?”

Rose typed in the coordinates she was thinking of, and then grabbed Jack’s lifeless hand to place on top of the woman’s wrist. “You need to go.”

“I can’t just leave the Doctor, or my family, or you-”

Rose gave the woman a pleading look. “If you brought me with you, the Master would be able to track you in an instant. And there’s no way you can make it past security to get to your family or the Doctor right now. What would he want you to do? Die here? Or live to keep fighting?”

Both women flinched at the sound of the Doctor’s pained shouts. They both looked over to see the Doctor seizing on the floor while the Master laughed and pointed his screwdriver at him. “The Doctor-”

Rose sighed. “What’s your name?”

The other woman couldn’t tear her eyes off of the Doctor while he was being tortured. Rose couldn’t make herself keep looking. “Martha,” she finally got out. “Martha Jones.”

Rose offered a small smile, even though she knew that there was nothing to be smiling about in their current situation. “Martha Jones, the Doctor only ever takes the best, which means that you must be just that. And if you’re the best, then surely you must know that sometimes, it’s okay to run. I will protect the Doctor as much as I can from here, but you need to take yourself and Jack and get out of here. Please.” Rose paused for a moment, then glanced up at the clock on the wall. She leaned forward, and whispered to both of the other travelers, as she noticed Jack’s eyes flutter open. “Exactly one year from 8:02, Martha Jones.” 

Jack leaned forward to pulled Rose into a tight hug, and then kissed the top of her head. “We’ll be back for you, Rosie. Take care of each other.” Then he let go, and he hit the button on the manipulator, even as Martha shouted at the sight of her family being dragged into the room right at that moment. 

Rose finally turned to look at her Doctor, and gasped at the sight of him. He looked like a very old man, and she wanted to cry for him. She did the next best thing instead, and hurried over to him to pull him into a hug. “Doctor,” she sobbed. “My Doctor.”

He returned the hug, pressing his face close to her, like he was trying to breath in everything about her so that he’d never be able to forget a single detail. “Rose, oh, Rose.”

They only had another few seconds to embrace before the Master grabbed Rose’s arm and yanked her back up to her feet. “How many, do you think?” Rose pressed her lips together in a flat line and refused to answer. The Master just shrugged. “Six billion. Down you go, kids!”

,,,

Martha and Jack watched as London burned, and then they reached out to tightly clasp their hands together. “We’re coming back,” Martha promised. Jack only nodded, and squeezed her hand tighter.

,,,

The Doctor felt like he was dying, and his hearts broke as he watched the city below him get attacked so brutally, but he couldn’t help continuously looking up at Rose. The Master was practically slamming him against the window to watch, while Rose was gently holding him up, the warmth of her arm practically burning a brand across his back. Things were at their absolute worst, and yet… Rose was right there, pressed up against his side, silently crying as she watched the city burn. They’d figure something out. How could they not, when they were together?

The Master seemed oblivious to all the emotions passing between the Doctor and Rose. “And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good.”


	2. Chapter 2

Whenever Rose could, she slipped away to visit the Doctor. She was pretty sure that he was the only thing keeping her sane here, especially as more time passed, and she grew more and more worried. She hoped that Martha and Jack would understand what they needed to do, but what if they hadn’t? Why had she been so stupidly vague? Or what if Martha had already been killed and buried? What if it was just too difficult of a task and they gave up? What if this was going to be her life for all of eternity, tied to a man she hated? Forced to see the one she loved be tortured and weakened? 

And though the Doctor and Rose did talk whenever they could, they could never talk about anything important, because there was too big a risk that the Master would be able to figure it out over their bond. They still talked a lot, though. Mostly it was Rose doing the talking, since the Master already knew everything about her, and the Doctor often felt too tired for long conversations, so Rose filled their time together with all kinds of stories about her life in Pete’s world. About how strange her relationship with Pete was, and about her adorable baby brother, and about her job at Torchwood. 

She made sure to hug him and hold his hand as often as she possibly could. She’d searched for him for so long, and she couldn’t imagine not taking the opportunity to touch him, and remind herself that he was real, and she really had found him. 

Unfortunately, the times that she could slip away weren’t nearly as often as she would have liked. Even though the Master didn’t have any particular need of her, at least not as far as Rose could tell, he still insisted that they spend almost every waking moment together. She hated being physically near him for more reasons than just the obvious. The closer she was to the Master, the louder the sound of the drums in her head were. She’d tried to explain about the drums to the Doctor at one point, but he’d only gotten a thoughtful look on his face, and never offered any theories. 

Normally, Rose would want to spend every possible second with the Doctor that she could. But today, she needed to use some of her free time for something even more important. She did stop by to see the Doctor, because it had been at least two weeks since she’d seen him last, and she crouched down in front of the wheelchair that he was strapped into. She reached out to put her hand on top of his. “Doctor, I know I’ve told you this before, back on Bad Wolf Bay, but I’m very selfish, so I need to tell you in person. Doctor,” She took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “I love you,” she whispered.

The Doctor’s eyes widened in alarm. He was smart enough to know that she wouldn’t choose now of all times to say those words, unless she thought that she’d never get another chance. She stood back up, and leaned over to kiss his forehead, and then she turned and hurried away, determined not to let any of her emotions through the bond.

Rose passed by Martha’s sister in the hallway, and gave a slight nod to the (technically) older woman. Tish hesitated for a moment, and then nodded back, wearing a grimace on her face. Rose already knew that the Jones family didn’t approve of her plan, but they also had no better ideas, and they wanted their world to be saved. 

Tish stumbled forward, dropping the silver tray she’d been carrying. The guards stationed in either nearby doorway just rolled their eyes, and one of them barked at Tish to clean up the mess and hurry on with her job. Rose knelt down next to the other woman, in the guise of helping pick things back up. There was one item she picked up, though, that tucked tightly into the palm of her hand.

Once Tish was all set, Rose hurried on her way, and into the nearest bathroom. She carefully slid the contraband into her jeans pocket, and thought about how much she loved the Doctor. That was something that usually had the Master avoiding Rose’s thoughts, since it disgusted him so much. 

The Master was currently in his office on the Valiant, speaking with some of the ‘Toclafane’. Rose still shuddered to think of all those human beings who were willingly slaughtering their ancestors. She hated the sight of them and everything they represented. 

But at least it meant that the Master was occupied, and Rose wasn’t going to let this opportunity slide by. Up here, she’d had no opportunity to learn what Martha and Jack had been up to, and even though she had once told the Doctor that she knew with complete certainty that Jack would save them, but a lot of time had passed for both her and Jack since then. And besides, when they were up against the Master, she wasn’t sure that any one person’s efforts would be enough.

The universe needed the Doctor a hell of a lot more than it needed Rose Tyler. There was proof enough in the fact that she’d been gone in a different universe for quite some time, and things had never fallen apart without her. In fact, they hadn’t started to fall apart until she’d returned, though she didn’t want to go down that path. 

Rose hurried through the bowels of the Valiant, doing her best to remain undetected. She could feel the weight of her bounty practically burning a hole in her pocket as she got closer and closer to her destination. And there it was. The TARDIS, in all her glorious beauty, though Rose could just feel how sick the poor ship was. 

She pulled out the key that Tish had slipped her, the same key that had been taken from Rose when she’d first been bonded to the Master. But Tish and Francine, being maids with access to many different rooms, had been helping Rose search for the key for quite a while now, ever since it had occurred to Rose that there may be just one solution to all of this.

Rose unlocked the door and stepped inside the time machine, quickly shutting and locking the doors behind her. The entire armed forces of Ghengis Khan couldn’t get in, so what chance did the Master stand? Then again, he might still have the key that had been snatched away from the Doctor almost a year ago at this point. Which meant that Rose needed to work fast. 

Seeing the condition that the TARDIS was in made Rose feel sick to her stomach, but she sent out as many comforting thoughts as she could. She also instinctively knew that the TARDIS would shield her from the Master, at least for now, which meant that she’d be free to actually think her own thoughts without the fear of being overheard. 

Rose took a few deep breaths as she stood in front of the already broken-looking console. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I know that it hurt you last time, and that you’re already in so much pain right now, but I have to do this. It’s the only way I can think of to save the Doctor. To save everyone.”

She felt a hum of affirmation in her mind, and felt insanely relieved at the thought that the TARDIS agreed with her. She didn’t know what she would have done if the ship had begged to just be left alone. Rose stroked the console a few times in what she hoped was a small act of comfort for the ship, and then she went searching for the right tools for the job.

Rose knew that in the TARDIS’ current state, the ship couldn’t be expected to maintain most of her rooms, but she begged for one thing in specific, and the TARDIS granted it to her. Right in the next room over, where usually there was a coat closet, was instead a giant, familiar looking yellow truck. 

Rose tried not to think about the last time she’d done this as she pulled down the tow hook and put it through the console. Then she got back into the truck, took a deep breath, and slammed down on the gas as hard as she could.

,,,

“Citizens rejoice. Your lord and master stands on high, playing track three.” The Doctor watched as the Master waltzed across the floor, but he could barely pay attention to the other Time Lord’s antics. He was too busy thinking about- worrying about- Rose. They’d had almost an entire year of being stuck on this ship, and though they’d spent as much time together as possible, Rose had never repeated those words that she’d first said to him the day he said his goodbyes to her. 

And then she’d said them two weeks ago, and the Doctor hadn’t seen her again since. He hadn’t seen the Master for an entire week, either, but then the other Time Lord had reappeared, even more enthusiastic than before. A broken bond could be enough to keep a Time Lord down for a week, but- no. The Doctor refused to consider that possibility. But even still, he couldn’t think of anything worse than the fact that he just didn’t know what was going on.

He watched as the Master danced with an imaginary partner for a moment, and then the other man paused, a small frown on his face. “I feel like we’re a guest short of a party,” he muttered. Then he shrugged, and danced his way over to the wheelchair-bound Doctor. “No matter. “It's ready to rise, Doctor. The new Time Lord Empire. It's good, isn't it? Isn't it good? Anything? No? Anything? Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they, those Toclafane, ever since you learned what they really are. They say Martha Jones has come back home. Now why would she do that?”

“Leave her alone,” the Doctor growled, even as he just wanted to ask where Rose was. If she was still… if she was okay. 

The Master just shrugged again. “Oh, you’re no fun. Don’t you wonder what her and the captain have been up to during their little vacation?” When the Doctor didn’t respond, the Master shoved the wheelchair away, sending the Doctor across the room until the chair bumped into the wall. He clapped his hands together and glanced over at his human ‘servants’. “Come on, people! What are we doing? Launch Day in twenty four hours.”

,,,

When Jack and Martha spotted each other, both of their faces lit up, and they ran to meet in the middle, pulling each other into a tight hug. “Oh, I’m so glad to see that you’re alright!”

Jack laughed. “You know me. How could I ever not be? Now you, miss, are the one I’ve been hearing all sorts of impressive things about.” He pulled away to look at her more carefully, taking in just how tired she looked. He imagined that anyone would be tired after going all around the world the way that she had. He grabbed Martha’s hand and led her into the nearby empty warehouse that was as close to safe as the two of them were going to get.

They sat down and made a small fire in a metal trash bin, took a brief meal, and then Martha smiled over at Jack. “So how did it go?”

He grinned. “I’ve only got the best working for me. They all managed to stay safe during the initial attack, and ever since then. I’ve got my people all set up and ready to move out at a moment’s notice. How did things go on your end?”

Martha frowned as she thought of those who had died in order to get her this far. “As well as to be expected. A lot more people listened to me than I ever could have imagined possible. Do you think that this is going to work?”

Jack nodded adamantly. “It has to. There are too many promises on the line. And the Doctor would never give up, so neither can we. Especially not when we’ve gotten this close. Just one day left, Martha Jones. If this does fail, then it’s your last day on Earth. How do you want to spend it?” 

Martha tilted her head to the side as she thought about it for a moment, and then gave Jack another smile. “I’d like to go the spa. I think I bloody well deserve a little bit of pampering.”

“Oh, be sure to book a double room. It’s been ages since I’ve gotten my nails done, and they look like something out of a horror movie.” He held up his hands and grimaced in exaggeration. Martha giggled, and Jack felt proud of himself for getting her to laugh. “Oh, and afterwards we can go out for ice cream. I know that it’s a risk to our wonderful figures, but eh. Why not treat ourselves every now and then?”

Even though she knew that there was a high possibility that there would never be a spa day or an ice cream, she still let herself get lost in the fantasy. She’d spent so long constantly on the move that it felt weird to just sit here for an entire day, and what else was she going to do with that time? Worry about the future? Of course she couldn’t let herself do that. Not when there were so many better things to be doing.

,,,

The Doctor glanced over at the clock on the wall, just once. They were just a day away from the Master going about his insane plan that was sure to get all of them killed. But the Master didn’t look gleeful, the way that he should have this close to victory. Instead, he looked strangely… lost. 

He kept looking around, and then he looked back at the Doctor. “Where’s Lucy? She’s supposed to be my happy little wife, but I don’t see her anywhere…” He marched closer to the Doctor, and put his hands down on the top of the wheelchair so that they were practically nose to nose. “What have you done to my wife, Doctor?”

The Doctor stared at the Master. Had the Time Lord somehow gone even more mad than before? Even if she was known to the public as Lucy Saxon, the Master had only ever referred to her as Rose as far as the Doctor could recall. He wasn’t sure what the safest thing to say was. “I was going to ask you the same, Master.” He remembered what had seemed so much like a farewell from Rose, and winced to think of what he could possibly say next. It was tempting to remind the Master of his bond that could be used to find Rose, and save her if she was in danger. But if Rose had somehow managed to escape, then the Doctor knew that he needed to let her go. “When’s the last time you saw her?” he asked instead. 

The Master narrowed his eyes, and took a step back. “We were… we were…” His face quickly took on a look of obvious frustration. “Where the hell did I see her last? What is going on?” He closed his eyes, and was silent for almost a minute before opening them again, and they had a wild look to them. “What does she look like, Doctor? I can’t seem to recall what my wife looks like?” The Doctor closed his eyes as well, and found it all too easy to summon to mind images of Rose Tyler. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to forget what she looked like. But what had she done to the Master to make her forget? And where was she now?

The Master continued to look around the room, like he was hoping that Rose would appear in front of them, but she didn’t. “Master-”

“Aren’t you excited, Doctor? Tomorrow, they launch. We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space. They won't see us coming. It kind of scary.”

The Doctor knew that there was no point in trying to talk about Rose. But maybe there was still a chance to end things. “Then stop.”

“Once the Empire is established, and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops. The drumming. The never ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me.”

The Doctor sighed. Even if there had been other Time Lords to go crazy after looking into the untempered schism, all of them were gone now. “It’s only you.”

The Master shook his head stubbornly. “No it’s not. My wife, my beautiful Lucy, she can hear the drums too.”

“Only through your bond, not because she can actually hear them.”

But the Master seemed content to not listen. “Where is she, anyways? Doctor? Where is my wife?” The Doctor just stared at the Master sadly. He had no idea what to say even if he did want to help.

,,,

Martha looked at Jack with horror. “They’re us. They’re humans. The human race from the future.”

Jack carefully kept his face blank. They already knew that they were humans, because the Doctor had told them that that’s what Rose had said on the phone to him. He hadn’t known that they were from the future, from the end of the universe, but they’d known. His eyes flicked over to the other woman in the room, and then he understood. Martha was purposely playing dumb, so he went along with it. Though the disgust in his voice was so real it might not have been faked at all.

,,,

“I took Lucy to Utopia. A Time Lord and his human wife. I took her to see the stars. We went so far away, but we came back in one piece, but now I seem to have misplaced her. Tell me, how do you keep a woman through the end of the universe but lose track of her in the 21st century? It makes no sense, does it? She had so many realizations while we were there, you know. She told me that it seemed like maybe there was no point to anything, if it all just dies.”

The Doctor frowned as he thought back to when he taken Rose to see the end of the Earth. It had been a selfish trip, meant to make someone else feel even a little bit of what he did everyday. But what stuck out most in his memory was Rose’s reaction to it all. She’d been upset at first, but then she’d bounced back, just like she always did. It showed just how strong she was. Even if the end of the universe would be a slightly more traumatic thing to witness, he couldn’t imagine that being what made Rose give up. Well, he couldn’t imagine that anything could ever make her give up, but he still didn’t know most of what had happened between Rose and the Master in the past two and a half years. 

“It’s all your fault,” the Master suddenly said, looking more on edge with every passing minute. “You should have seen it, Doctor. Furnaces burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark. Lucy never screamed, though. She just cried, and didn’t make a single sound. She never makes much sound, but she’s being especially quiet right now…” he trailed off, and then started looking around the room with that same lost expression that the Doctor had started to get strangely used to within just a couple of hours. “No wonder she’s so quiet, she hasn’t shown up yet. She will, though. My lovely little wife wouldn’t leave me high and dry. Not at such an important time. Not when I’m ready to show how I can make the past and future collide in infinite majesty.”

The Doctor shook his head, and tried not to think about Rose. “But you’re changing history. Not just Earth, the entire universe.” 

The Master shrugged. “I’m a Time Lord. I have that right. Time Lord and humans combined. Just like me and Lucy. We do fit together so perfectly.” He sighed, and stared off into the distance, like he was reliving some fond memory. “Human race, greatest monsters of them all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go find my wayward wife.” Then he walked away, leaving the Doctor weak and alone, and scared out of his mind. Not for himself, but for everyone on Earth, and for Rose.

,,,

“You need to keep telling your story, Martha. I’m going to stand by my people.”

Martha gave Jack a long look. “Are you sure you’ll be alright? And I don’t just mean physically.”

Jack shrugged. “What other choice is there but to be alright? Don’t worry about me, just worry about what you need to do. I think that right now, you must be the bravest woman on the entire planet, but you’re job isn’t finished quite yet. You can do it, though. I believe in you.”

Martha furrowed her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. “You barely even know me.”

Jack shrugged again. “Even if the Doctor did abandon me, I trust his judgement. And more importantly, I trust her judgement. She clearly believed that you could do this. Which means that you can.”

“The Doctor only takes the best,” Martha murmured. “That’s what she told me.” She let out a self-deprecating laugh before continuing. “I spent so much of my time with the Doctor busy being jealous over her, but now I feel like an idiot. Something like what they’ve got, well… I never even stood a chance. I should have just been the friend that the Doctor needed me to be.”

Jack reached out to put his hands on Martha’s shoulders and look her in the eyes. “Martha Jones, you are absolutely fantastic. You are not better or worse than her, you’re just different. The Doctor could never see you like that because his eyes have always been for her, and her alone. The connection that those two have is just meant to be. But don’t you dare think for even a moment that that makes you inferior.”

Martha scoffed. “‘Course not. I’m brilliant.” Then she pulled Jack into a hug before they said their goodbyes and parted ways. If all went well, they’d be seeing each other again soon. If not, well… there was no point in thinking about that. She paused just before they were actually separated. “Jack, when you talk about ‘her’... who are you talking about?”

Jack frowned. “You know…” His frown deepened as he trailed off. “Uh, who are you talking about?”

Martha shrugged. “I’m not- oh. Lucy Saxon, right? The Prime Minister, or the Master, or whatever you want to call him, his wife?”

There was an uncertain look on Jack’s face even as he slowly nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. Who else could we be talking about?” Suddenly, the idea of separating seemed quite daunting to them. 

,,,

“Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe!” The Doctor stared as Martha was brought into the room. He knew that Rose had told Martha something before sending her and Jack away, but Rose had never told him what that was. They’d always tried to avoid talking about anything of great importance, and it angered the Doctor that Rose had had to live for so long with her thoughts being constantly violated. 

The Doctor tuned back in to his surroundings when he heard Martha laughing. “A gun.”

The Master frowned. “What about it?”

Martha gave him a look like he was an idiot. “A gun in four parts?”

“Yes, and I destroyed it,” the Master reminded her impatiently.

Martha rolled her eyes. “A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on, did you really believe that?”

The Master’s frown deepened. It was alright when he was the one talking in riddles, but when others caused confusion, it seemed to upset him quite a bit. “What do you mean?”

The Doctor had no idea what gun was being referenced, but he knew for sure that Rose wouldn’t have sent Martha after a weapon. At least not the kind that could take any lives. “As if I would ask her to kill. As if Rose would.”

The Master’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Rose! Oh, yes, that’s her name, how could I have forgotten her name? Something so important, something so lovely, so… thorny.” His face hardened as he walked right up to Martha. “Where is she? Where’s my wife?”

Martha looked back at him with genuine confusion. “What do you mean? Shouldn’t she be on the Valiant with you? And who’s Rose?”

The Doctor shot Martha a concerned look. He wasn’t sure if she’d just become a great actor or anything, but there didn’t seem to be a single indication on her face that she wasn’t speaking the truth. Sure, she’d only met Rose in person for a couple of minutes, but that didn’t seem like it should be any reason to completely forget about her? And the Master kept asking so lost, and had apparently forgotten Rose’s name. What was going on?

There were only seconds left until two past eight, and Martha slowly stood up, revealing her plan to the Doctor. And oh, she was so clever. The countdown ended, and the Doctor felt almost like he was being filled with regenerative power as a golden glow outlined him. And then, even better, for some inexplicable reason, it felt as though he could feel Rose in his head.

,,,

The top of the TARDIS console popped loose, just as it had twice before. Despite the poisonous red light filling the rest of the ship, the light that came out of the console was still the beautiful, golden glow that she suddenly remembered with complete clarity. And she knew that she had an instant to make a decision. The TARDIS warned her that if she took in the power of the time vortex again, she would be permanently altered by it. 

That sounded more like something she could worry about later. For right now, she just needed to make sure that the Doctor and everyone else would be safe. So she opened her eyes wide, and let the time vortex swirl into her. It felt like being wrapped in a warm embrace, like coming home. 

She could still feel her bond to the Master somewhere in the far recesses of her mind, and she knew that it was unbreakable unless one of them were to die. But now she had the power to put up impenetrable walls in her mind. Once that was done, she was ready to help. After all, she was Bad Wolf, and she existed to save the Doctor, so that’s what she was going to do. But, as much as it pained her to realize, she knew that there was a different stop she needed to make first.

She went somewhere very far away, to find a beaten down Doctor in need of her help, and grinned at the sight of two other Doctors as well. Even though she knew better than anyone that time was always in flux, she took it as encouragement that he would survive through his current dilemma.

As Bad Wolf prepared to go back to when she’d left, so that she could swoop in and save the day again, she paused. She could prevent so much pain and suffering for so many people. Even if most would never remember it, those onboard the Valiant would. The Doctor would. But even still… how was Martha Jones ever going to come to terms with her own feelings if she got to stay by the Doctor’s side right when he got Rose back? And how would Martha figure out that she was capable of doing great things all on her own? How would Jack come to understand that being immortal didn’t always mean he had a solution? Why would she have become Bad Wolf again if the Master posed no threat? And she was cruelly aware that one of the best ways to bring the Doctor and Rose together would be if they both needed to recover from trauma. 

For a moment, Bad Wolf looked at a different possibility. A world where Rose hadn’t found her way back to the Doctor until they were almost out of time, and he’d been badly hurt, which set a series of events into motion that led to Rose being stranded in that damn parallel universe, and the Doctor would never truly get over her. In that version of events, the Master was given the opportunity to do more mischief when he’d been thought to be dead. But what could he accomplish if he was given the chance to change? Who better to change him than the girl who’d managed to save a broken war veteran who’d done what he considered to be unforgivable? (In either scenario, he was still many years away from learning of the changes that had been made to his own past). 

Rose had every right to hate the Master for what he’d done to her. Forcing a marriage bond was one of the biggest possible violations in the known universe. Telepathy was treated as a very intimate thing by every species that was aware of it, and the Gallifreyans would have certainly despised the Master for his actions. But did that mean that he had no chance of changing? Didn’t everyone deserve a second chance? Maybe her current Doctor didn’t believe in second chances, but Bad Wolf had just given a second chance to the Doctor. 

Sure, that had been out of love. She couldn’t imagine ever loving anyone more than she loved her Doctor. But she’d also gotten enough glimpses into the Master’s mind to know that he was a pitable creature. And besides, it should make the Doctor happy to no longer be the last Time Lord. Or it would make him unbearably angry because of the Master’s actions towards Rose. It was difficult to know for sure which way things would go.

Well, either way, Bad Wolf had made her decision. Martha Jones and Jack Harkness had both acted so brilliantly in the past year, and it seemed unjust to take that away from them, even if it would mean taking away the pain as well. So she took Rose out of the equation, as best she could, to try and ensure that everything would go as closely as possible to one of the more successful timelines that she’d seen.

Then she brought herself to the end of the point, to a moment right when everyone in the world needs to be thinking of a single word, all at the same time. Bad Wolf stepped out of the TARDIS, and knew the exact second that the countdown was over. She said the word out loud, adding to the billions of other voices and thoughts calling out all at once. “Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Oh, please be safe, my Doctor.”

A few minutes passed, and Bad Wolf could feel the timelines snapping into place, creating a fixed point. She knew that the paradox machine would need to be dismantled, and that the TARDIS would need all the energy she could get so that she could heal. Bad Wolf walked up to the console, and gave it a loving pat. “Rose Tyler and the TARDIS. We’ll make a good pair, won’t we? Or perhaps we already have.” She paused for just a moment, and felt a swirl of the TARDIS’ thoughts much clearer than she ever had before. “Yes, you’re right. Rose Tyler and the TARDIS will never truly be separated again. They’ve been mixed together just a little bit too much. But that’s alright. We happen to know a guy who already loves us both.” Then she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and willed the energy of the time vortex to go back where it belonged.

Rose collapsed to the floor just as Jack stepped into the TARDIS, and he spotted her immediately. His eyes widened as he was flooded with all his memories of her, and wondered how he had possibly been able to forget any of that. He carefully picked her up and slung her over one shoulder, then fired his gun at the paradox machine until it was destroyed in a small explosion. He grinned, and then turned to hurry back to the flight deck, making sure not to jostle Rose too much. Precious cargo, and all that.

,,,

“Everyone get down! Time is reversing!” the Doctor shouted as the entire ship started to shake like crazy around them. “The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning.” Then he gasped as he looked over at the upper railing, and saw Jack standing there, carrying Rose in his arms. “Rose!”

He raced over to her, and gently took her from Jack’s arms. There were a million things that the humans in the room probably needed explained to them still, and he should really give Martha a big hug and thank her for saving the world, and he most likely still had a lot he needed to talk to the Master about, but he found it so difficult to care about any of that when he was actually holding Rose in his arms again. 

He was a bit worried about the fact that she was unconscious, and as he continued to stare at her, he realized that there was something… off. When he looked at Jack, it felt almost painful, because he could tell how wrong Jack’s existence was. No living thing should be a fixed point. But when he looked at Rose he saw nothing. He couldn’t see her timeline, no matter how much he strained to look. And he’d definitely been able to see it before- or maybe he hadn’t. The Doctor had always had a bit of a personal policy against looking at the timelines of his companions, because he usually found them too short and depressing. So he’d never actually tried to look at hers, though he’d also never gotten this feeling of strangeness from her either. 

While the Doctor was preoccupied with Rose, he heard a loud bang behind him, and he whirled around. Francine Jones was standing there, lowering a gun to her side as the Master dropped to the floor, clutching at his chest. Jack rushed over to Francine to take the weapon from her. Then Rose jolted violently in the Doctor’s arms, and opened her eyes with a loud gasp. She rolled out of his arms that had been loosened by shock, and landed clumsily on her feet. 

She rushed over to the Master, and even though the Doctor wanted to stop and run a million scans over her, and also give her a tight hug that he would never let go of her from, and maybe even- but no, she was right. He hurried over to the Master as well. They both knelt down next to him, cradling his head across both of their laps. “There you go. I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” the Doctor said softly.

“Always the women,” the Master said with a snort.

The Doctor closed his eyes. “I didn’t see her. I’m so sorry.”

The Master hummed under his breath, and then turned his head to look up at Rose instead. “There you are. My beautiful angel. I somehow forgot. Can you ever forgive me.”

Rose reached down to gently stroke at his hair. “You don’t even like me. Why would you care about my forgiveness?”

The Master shrugged. “Well I need it from someone, and I’m certainly not going to take it from that daft fool,” he nodded towards the Doctor. “I think that it’s somewhat impossible to see into a mind as blindingly bright as yours and not fall a little bit in love. Besides, you understand me in a way that no one else can. You can hear the drums.”

Rose shrugged. “Yeah, and they’re pretty bloody annoying, I’ll have you know. So thanks for that.”

The Master laughed, and for once he didn’t sound entire insane while doing so. “Oh, I can’t possibly imagine a more beautiful last sight than that of you above me.”

The Doctor scoffed at the overly dramatic way that the Master spoke. “You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate.”

“No.”

The Doctor looked at the Master pleadingly. “One little bullet. Come on.”

The stubborn look on the Master’s face made it clear that he was only going to argue, and the Doctor didn’t know what to think. How could he force a man to live just so that he wouldn’t have to be alone? They’d been friends once, not all that long ago. Even if the other Time Lords were still around, the Doctor still wouldn’t want to see the Master die.

He opened his mouth to actually beg the Master to regenerate, but Rose beat him to it. She continued stroking the Master’s hair, and bent over so that she could whisper just loudly enough for the two Time Lords to hear it. “I know what you’re afraid of. Spending the rest of your life imprisoned with the Doctor, right? Or maybe it’s the thought of having to listen to those drums for even one second longer. But neither of those have to happen.” The Doctor and the Master both stared at her in surprise, and she just offered them that absolutely gorgeous smile, the one that the Doctor had missed so much. “Can I tell you a secret? I’ve seen it all. Everything that has been, or will be, or can be. You don’t have to be a prisoner, to the Doctor, or the drums. I know you’re scared, but please, let me help you.”

The Master let out a shuddering breath, but then he gave a single abrupt nod. Rose smiled at him gratefully, and then shifted both of her hands down so that they rested over his wound. The Doctor wanted to ask what she was doing, but as he watched, a bright gold light burst from her hands, and when she opened her eyes, they were glowing the way that they had when she’d been Bad Wolf. The Doctor stared on in awe and horror. He thought that he’d taken it all out of her, but he had apparently failed, and there was no way that a human could survive holding that kind of power within them.

The gold spread away from Rose’s hands, and soon it covered the Master’s entire body, shrouding him and looking just like regeneration usually did. But when the light disappeared, the Master was still wearing the same face, and he slowly sat up, reaching to press against the spot he’d been shot in. The blood still stained his shirt, but there was no injury there. 

He turned to look at Rose in shock, and the Doctor knew that the look had to be mirrored on his own face. “You saved my life. How did you save my life? And why would you?”

Rose shrugged. “I guess I just believe in second chances. For everybody. As to how, well, I’m sure a clever Time Lord like you could figure it out.”

The Master blinked very slowly, and then nodded once, still staring at Rose like she was something incredible- which she was, of course, but the Master had no right to look at her like that. “The girl who looked into the heart of the TARDIS.”

The Doctor shook his head. “But Rose, I took it out of you. Just having that energy in me for a few minutes was enough to basically kill me. How could you possibly have survived this long?”

She scooted closer to him, and pulled him into a tight hug, pressing her face into his shoulder. The Doctor automatically returned the hug, and couldn’t help noticing just how right she felt in his arms. “Second chances, second looks. But it’s okay, Doctor. I was always meant to be Bad Wolf. I was always meant to save you that first time, and to save him this time.”

The Master cleared his throat pointedly. “And how exactly are you going to stop him from locking me on his TARDIS with no escape in sight?”

Rose turned to look over at him. “Well, I suppose I can’t really stop the Doctor if he puts his mind to doing something. But I think that I’ve provided him with a reason to leave you be. Close your eyes,” she whispered his name in Gallifreyan. “Tell me what you hear?”

There was a long moment of silence, and then the Master gasped. His eyes snapped open, and he stared at Rose like she was truly a goddess. “They’re gone. The drums are gone.”

Rose nodded. “Well, I guess they’re not technically gone. How could they be, when they were only ever in your head to begin with? But I was able to block them using our bond.”

The Doctor clenched his hands into fists at the reminder of the bond that had been forced onto her. He’d always been so afraid of losing Rose, of outliving her, that it had been very rare for him to consider a long future with her. But when those rare moments came up, he always imagined bonding with her, and getting to be the luckiest bloke in the universe to have her in his head all the time. But the Master had stolen that from him, and had made himself that person, without Rose’s consent. Destroying the paradox machine may have reversed the past year, but it did nothing to stop the year and a half that Rose had been trapped here with the Master before the Doctor had even shown up. 

Rose looked up at the Doctor hesitantly. “I know that I have no right to ask this of you, but can’t you just pick somewhere nice and safe to drop him off?”

The Doctor reached over to take one of Rose’s hands, and he marveled about how well it fit in his even after all this time. “You have as much right as anyone to decide what happens to him. But even without the sound of the drums-”

Rose shook her head. “He only ever wanted to make it stop, or to make everyone hear it. He’s gotten what he wants. He won’t cause any more trouble. And if he tries it, I’ll know right away.” She used her free hand to tap the side of her head to signify the bond. As much as it hurt to think that she was tied to the Master forever, in some ways the Doctor was grateful. He had the feeling that even on an infinite ship, having the Master around all the time would eventually drive both of them up the wall. And even though he didn’t understand it, he was still grateful that she’d been able to save the Master’s life. 

Everyone ended up filing their way into the TARDIS, which already looked much better off than she had the last time the Doctor had seen her. He made sure to properly chastise Francine about gun safety before dropping her and her family off, though since she technically hadn’t killed anyone (and he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to blame her for it if she had), he let her off with a warning. 

As Martha left to go talk to her parents and sister, Jack gave Rose a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then did the same for the Doctor. “I had plenty of time to think that past year, the year that never was, and I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor, responsibility.”

Rose snorted. “Did he really say that? Since when does the Doctor care about being responsible?”

“Oi, I happen to be a very responsible person. Responsible central, that’s me.”

The Doctor laughed, though, even as he reached over to take Jack’s vortex manipulator. He’d missed being teased by Rose. She’d never done it on the Valiant, probably because he’d already seemed too fragile at the time. She’d been pretty fragile too. “I can't have you walking around with a time travelling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologise.”

Jack gulped, and then looked back and forth between Rose and the Doctor. “And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?”

Rose reached out to gently rest her hand on Jack’s arm. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you. I think that maybe I could do something to change that, but surely you know what they say about changing fixed points?”

Jack gave her a long look. “Will I have a good life?” he asked quietly. He looked like he’d meant to ask it as a joke, but it had come out more seriously than he’d intended.

Rose gave him a bright smile. “One of the best. You are not alone, Jack, and you never will be. The Doctor’s still got hundreds of years left in him. And you’ll always have me.” Both men frowned at the same time, and spoke over each other to ask what she meant by that. She sighed. “Bad Wolf gave Jack life, more than ever intended. And he’s my friend. What do you think she would give to me, when she is me? What do you think that one of my greatest wishes has always been? To be able to spend my forever with the Doctor, and to have him be able to spend his with me.”

The Doctor stared at her in disbelief. “What are you saying, Rose?”

She glanced over her shoulder to give him a tongue-touched grin. “It means that you’re stuck with me for a very long time, Doctor.” Then she hesitated. “That is, if you want me. I know that it’s been longer for you since Bad Wolf Bay than it has been for me. And I know how important bonds are to telepathic species-” 

The Doctor tugged Rose away from Jack so that he could pull her into a tight hug, and then he kissed the top of her head. He wanted to kiss her lips, but he couldn’t do that without asking first, not after she’d already been married against her will. “Rose Tyler, I have wanted you since ‘run’, and I’m never going to stop.”

Jack chuckled. “Well, I might not be alone, but I certainly can see that you two want to be. Look me up once the honeymoon period is over, yeah?” Then he stepped out of the TARDIS, giving nothing more than a small wave over his shoulder.

The Master sat on the jumpseat and pouted while the Doctor and Rose continued to stare at each other, both too afraid of what would happen if they looked away for even a second. Martha finally returned, and the Doctor turned to her with a grin. “Right then, off we go-”

“I can’t,” Martha interrupted. “I just can’t. Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them. But it’s okay, Doctor, because you’re not alone anymore. You don’t need me.”

The Doctor gave her a sad smile. “You saved the world, Martha Jones. Not everyone can say that. You’re one of the best, and it was an honor to show you the universe.”

She nodded. “Right then, yeah. Bye.” Maybe if things were different, the Doctor would have asked her to stay, but as it was, he’d just gotten Rose back, and even though it was always sad when his companions were ready to move on, having Rose by his side made it easier to bear. Before he could say anything to Rose, though, Martha marched right back up to him, holding out one finger accusingly. “Because the thing is, it's like my friend Vicky. She lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them all packed in, and this bloke was called Sean. And she loved him. She did. She completely adored him. Spent all day long talking about him.”

“Is this going anywhere?” Rose poked him in the arm at that, presumably for being rude. 

Martha didn’t seem to care though, and just kept right on going. “Yes. Because he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him. Years of her life. Because while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said, get out. So this is me, getting out.” She threw her phone at him, and he caught it on reflex. “Keep that, because I'm not having you disappear. If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running. Got it?”

The Doctor nodded once. “Got it.” 

Martha smiled, and then turned to Rose. “Make sure he actually listens for if it rings. And… take care of him, okay?”

Rose nodded, and reached over to grab one of the Doctor’s hands. “Always,” she promised. “And thank you for taking care of him when I couldn’t.”

“Oi, I’m not some pet that needs watering and walks,” the Doctor grumbled. Both women laughed at him, but he wasn’t actually upset. 

Then Martha looked back at the Doctor. “I’ll see you both again.” Then she turned and walked off the TARDIS at a slower pace, and it had a much more final feeling to it, though the Doctor didn’t doubt that they would be seeing each other again. 

The Master cleared his throat as the TARDIS dematerialized. “So where exactly do you plan on dumping me like a heap of old garbage?”

The Doctor turned to look at the other Time Lord carefully. “When you were only human, you built a rocket out of spare parts and kitchen trash. I have no doubt that you could do anything now. So the real question is: where do you want to go?”

The Master tilted his head. “Right now, I just want to go wherever I can get a nice cuppa. Maybe some chips. I didn’t even like chips yesterday, you know. Blame it on Rose’s influence.”

The Doctor smiled. “I think we can manage some chips.”

“We know all the best places,” Rose assured him. As the Doctor walked over to the console, Rose found herself dancing around with him, driving the TARDIS with him. She knew exactly what to do despite never being told. It wasn’t until they’d landed and stepped out into the cool London air, tipping their heads back to look up at the stars, that Rose let out a soft gasp, and clutched the Doctor’s hand. “Oh, I can’t believe I let it slip my mind. I know it’s been a couple of years, but there’s still no excuse. Doctor, haven’t you wondered how I got back to this universe? And why?” 

“I thought the ‘why’ would be pretty obvious,” he teased. But he could see the grim expression on her face, and his laughter quickly died down. “Rose?”

“I somehow forgot, with everything else going on, but Doctor, I was looking for you because I thought that you were the only person who could help. The stars are going out, Doctor. In every universe, one by one.”

The Doctor wasn’t sure what to make of that, but he did know one thing for certain. “Whatever’s going on, we’re going to figure it out, together. I promise.”

Rose gave him a grateful look. “Yeah. Together.”

“I’m still here too, you know,” the Master grumbled. “But no, why would you want all the help you can get from every Time Lord you can find?”

“It’s better with two,” the Doctor said, rather more aggressively than he’d meant to. He couldn’t help it. Even though he knew that he loved Rose, and she loved him, and- oh. There was something he’d forgotten to say as well. He grabbed Rose’s other hand as well, and looked deep into her eyes. “Rose Tyler, I love you.”

She grinned. “Quite right, too.” Then she stood on her tiptoes to press a chaste kiss to the corner of the Doctor’s mouth. “I’m going to stay with you forever,” she promised. “Just you watch.”

The Doctor grinned in return. “Oh, the universe better look out. A Tyler woman has just made her mind up about something.” She scoffed, and then tugged him off towards the chippie. The Master followed just behind, and the Doctor felt like he was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't quite sure how to resolve things here, since in canon the Doctor clearly wanted the Master to survive and stay with him, but in my story the Master did quite a lot of hurt to Rose, which is something the Doctor would hate, so I wasn't really sure how I wanted him to react to the Master. Hope that it all feels at least a bit in-character. 
> 
> Also, for clarification: even though the plan was originally for Jack to just go back to Torchwood while Martha kept spreading word about the Doctor, they ended up deciding to stick together, but Jack got himself 'killed' by the guards so that he wouldn't be dragged onto the flight deck with Martha.


End file.
